Fright on the tiles

A TERRIFIED woman woken in the middle of the night by strange noises was confronted by a 5ft snake in her bathroom.

Unbeknown to Gee Ruzvidzo, her neighbour’s pet corn snake, Jake, had been missing for seven months and presumed dead.

Speaking from her home in the Thorntree area of Middlesbrough yesterday, Ms Ruzvidzo said she was still reeling from the shock of her startling discovery yesterday morning.

She fears the psychological effects of the ordeal could be long-lasting.

She said: “There is nothing worse than living in your own house, but being petrified of going to bed.

“I keep wondering how long it had been living here. I do not know how it got into the house. We had suffered from mice, but then they all disappeared.

“It could have been in my five-year-old daughter’s bed- Fright on the tiles room all this time. It could have killed her.”

Ms Ruzvidzo, 27, stirred from her sleep just before 2am after she heard bathroom toiletries rattling.

When she walked in, she saw the black and yellow striped reptile stretched out along the windowsill with its head up looking at her.

Screaming, she ran back into her bedroom and called for her partner, Romeo Munhupedzi, who watched the snake while she called the emergency services to Birkhall Road.

Barry Edwards, from Cleveland Fire Brigade, was one of three firefighters from Grangetown who wrestled the snake into a secure box.

He said: “The young lady was frantic when we arrived.

“The first thing we saw was its tail under the bathroom door. The most important thing was that we did not let it escape as it made a beeline for the back of the bath panel.”

A mop was used to catch the snake, which coiled itself around the handle as it was lowered into a bag.

“I was shocked by its size. It was a lot bigger than I expected.

It was also much stronger than I thought it would be. It was a bit of a novel call-out that certainly got the adrenaline pumping.”

They took the snake to the RSPCA centre at nearby Great Ayton.

Neighbour Raymond Myers told Ms Ruzvidzo yesterday morning that his much-loved pet snake, Jake, had been missing since it was shown-off at a family party in October.

He said: “We spotted it once under the cooker, but that was it. I cannot believe it has been alive all this time. I am thrilled.

Mr Myers, 22, said he had replaced his non-poisonous corn snake with two bearded dragon lizards, called Spike and Gizmo, but would love to be reunited with Jake again.